@misc{10481/58600,
year = {2019},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/58600},
abstract = {Recently acquired bathymetric and high-resolution seismic data from the upper slope of Santos
Basin, southern Brazilian margin, reveal a major geomorphological feature in the SW Atlantic that
is interpreted as a carbonate ridge - the Alpha Crucis Carbonate Ridge (ACCR). The ACCR is the first
megastructure of this type described on the SW Atlantic margin. The ~17 × 11-km-wide ring-shaped
ACC R features tens of >100-m-high steep-sided carbonate mounds protruding from the surrounding
seabed and flanked by elongated depressions. Comet-like marks downstream of the mound structures
indicate that the area is presently influenced by the northward flow of the Intermediate Western
Boundary Current (IWBC), a branch of the Subtropical Gyre that transports Antarctic Intermediate
Water. Abundant carbonate sands and gravels cover the mounds and are overlain by a biologically
significant community of living and dead ramified corals and associated invertebrates. The IWBC acts as
a hydrodynamic factor that is responsible for both shaping the bottom and transporting coral larvae. We
contend that the ACCR was formed by upward fluid flow along active sub-surface faults and fractures
that formed by lateral extension generated by the ascending movement of salt diapirs at depth. The
ACC R provides an important modern and accessible analogue for a seabed carbonate build-up related to
sub-surface hydrocarbon systems.},
organization = {Acknowledgements are also due to the São Paulo Science Foundation
(FAPESP grants 2014/08266-2, 2015/17763-2, and 2016/22194-0). MMdeM acknowledges the Brazilian National
Research Council (CNPq, grant 300962/2018-5). The partnership between MMdeM and the US was supported by
FAPESP (grant 2017/50191-8 – SPRINT Program). The partnership between MMdeM and F.J.L. was supported
by CNPq (grant 401041/2014-0). The authors gratefully acknowledge support from Shell Brasil through the
BIOIL project at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo and the strategic importance of the
support given by ANP through R&D levy regulation.},
publisher = {Springer Nature},
title = {The Alpha Crucis Carbonate Ridge (ACC R): Discovery of a giant ringshaped carbonate complex on the SW Atlantic margin},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-55226-3},
author = {Maly, Mascimiliano and Lobo, Francisco José},
}